Twin Towers

[Yossarian†]

((Rob Jenkins continued from Keep Your Head Down))

The moment, he entered the changing room, Rob finally felt like he was in home. Due to all the math silliness with Mr. Kwong, the Irishman had to slow down the pace of his practices. Now, when it was finished, Rob wanted to get back to his form as soon as possible. Taking breaks, when his big day was getting closer and closer, was almost like a basketball suicide.

Not wasting any more time, Rob quickly changed his shirt and jeans for his favorite Bayview Huskies uniform with number 16 on the chest, back, and shorts. Since he first entered his school team in primary school, Rob was always playing with number 16. He got used to it so much, that he didn't even wanted to think about changing it. So many games played with it, and now, by a complete coincidence, he was considered as the #16 of the next NBA Draft. If that's not the sign, that 16 was Rob's lucky number, then he didn't know what could it be.

After tightening the laces in his favorite Converse sneakers, and taking his favorite Spalding ball from the backpack, Rob was ready for some rumble. Too bad, there wasn't anyone around to make this rumble with him. Unfortunately for him, the next team practice was scheduled for the next week. Though even if there wasn't any practice around, usually there was at least several people, who were playing some casual game. They were also willing to help him with practicing, either by passing him the ball, trying to block his shots, or simply by being the running obstacle on his way. But not this time. The gymnasium was as empty as the classroom, ten minutes after the break.

Rob began to think, what to do next.

"Hmm... Let's see..."

He grabbed the ball, ran at the basket, and tried to perform a Slam Dunk. However he failed to aim properly, and the ball only bounced back off the rim.

"Nope..."

Rob picked up the ball, aimed, and threw it from the place he stood. Once again, the ball only hit the rim. His attempts to make a lay-up and free throw, minutes later, also failed. The Irishman started to get really irritated.

"Fuck... It's just not my day, Is it?"

Finally, Rob crossed the three point line, bounced the ball several times, grabbed it, and took a deep breath.

"Allright man. You can do it. I know you can..."

He jumped, and threw the ball toward the basket, when he reached the highest point in the air. The Spalding flew through the gym, danced for a while on a rim, before finally finding it's way to the target. Rob sighed with relief.

"Good. So it's three point shots today, I guess..."

[D/N]

(Imraan Al-Hariq continued from It's Dating Time!)

Imraan was feeling pretty good about himself for the first time in a couple days. Maybe it was just because he'd had a couple days off work, and his schedule for schoolwork was mostly cleared up. It gave him some time to relax, and he'd even managed to get out to help the church with their latest fundraiser last night. THAT had been a welcome change of pace, not to mention the kind of sobering reminder he thought he needed. Seriously man, you think your problems are THAT bad? You think Jessie going to prom with someone else is th end of the world? (and he DID know full well that she was going with Dan now, she'd been all excited about it and everything the last couple days) Man, just look at the rest of the world.

Still stung though.

As he pushed through the gym doors and jogged down to the far end of the court, he saw Rob Jenkins raining down threes and smiled a bit. Of course Rob was here. The team was off practices 'till the start of next week to get them some rest before the State games started, but they could still work out on their own time.

"Hey man."

Actually, Imraan had to thank Rob. Heck, if he hadn't been playing with the guy for the past four years, there was probably no way he'd even get much more than token scouting in the college ranks. Tall or not, when you play with a guy like that, you get attention. AND you play a heck of a lot better, that's for sure.

He grabbed a basketball from the rack and dribbled it down to the three-point line, where he took a shot and saw it bounce harmlessly off the rim. Heh. Of course, he WAS the center. The six foot eight (OK, seven) guy only lined up behind the three when they were way ahead in the last minute and felt like being funny. Nah, what he really needed was to make sure his defense was back on form, he'd been garbage in their last game and that, more than anything else, was what they'd be looking for.

"Wanna do some one-on-one? I need to get my D shored up for the next game anyway. There's gonna be a lot of people there."

Some of the scouts would hopefully be there for him, but there would also be ones out there to check on the other team from Albert Lea and, of course, the crown jewels of the college scene, out there just in case Rob decided not to declare for the draft after all. There'd be a lot of opportunity to impress at the next game, and Imraan wanted more than anything to do that. He had a responsibility to himself and everyone else.

He passed the basketball to Rob and took position under the basket.

"So how's things going with ya?"

[Yossarian†]

Rob was finally fully relaxed. All the sleepiness went away, all the trouble (well, almost, there was still the problem with Melissa and the Prom) were gone with the stupid look on Kwong's face. Hell, even his shots were more accurate with every throw. 10 minutes later, his accurate shot percentage was really satisfying. Finally, when it looked like the day will be all about free target practice, he heard familiar voice behind him.

Imraan. Perfect. Someone with really decent skills, and a rare example of someone taller than Rob in school (thought not the only one. Seriously, for some reason Bayview turned out to be school of the giants). He grabbed the ball and tried three pointer on his own, but as expected from a center, he missed. Rob really couldn't blame him for this. Three point shots were not the job of the Center. Well unless you're from Europe, because over there, some of the wacko Centers are really throwing threes.

But Imraan was not from Europe. Someone could think, that Rob racism will turn Imraan into his bitter enemy. Nothing like that will happen. Firstly, the Palestinian wasn't black. Some people just cannot understand, that strong negative feeling for black people, doesn't mean someone is full fledged racist, who hate everyone besides white people with pure blood. In short, Rob hated when someone thought about him as some kind of a Nazi. He HAD a reason after all to don't like black people. And secondly, Imraan was a good player. Rob respected that more than everything. Even niggers, who played Basket at good level had his respect (heck, he planned to spend his entire career among them, it would be impossible, if he would burn with rage every time he saw his teammate). So there was real reason to not like this guy, especially if he was a good guy. Hot tempered sometimes, just like Rob, but hey, it's just another reason to like the big man.

After failed attempt to do hit three, Imraan offered him one-on-one match. Like he was reading in Rob's mind.

"Bring it on, Imraan, I was born ready for it"

Irishman smiled, and seconds later, ball passed by the Center was grabbed firmly in his hands. Rob bounced ball for a while, and took few steps back, to prepare the assault at the basket. In the meanwhile, Imraan asked him typical 'How's going' question.

"Surprisingly good." Robert smiled, while still bouncing the ball. "I owned Kwongs ass in Maths. That fucker thought, that he has a chance to throw shit at me, so I got it together, spend few days with books, and look - I have a C+. Probably my best grade in Maths ever. Too bad you couldn't see his face. Priceless. Now the only thing that is still unfinished, is probably the Prom."

The moment, Rob said the word 'Prom' he stormed the basket, and tried to pass Imraan from the right side, before throwing a lay-up.

[D/N]

Imraan just nodded as Rob bounced the ball, going into one of his patented rants about Kwong and calculus. Heh. Rob always had a mouth on him. Not that Imraan approved of Rob's viewpoints, of course, or his language. But he'd known Rob for three years now, and he knew not to push the guy. That was the part of his faith that he really wished people understood better. You don't need to approve. But you do NOT need to judge and berate, either. Just.... be gentle.

And hey, Rob had managed to get the marks he needed, either way.

"Hey, not bad at all. Just in case the colleges managed to convince you to try a year before you declare?"

As he spoke, Rob was moving slowly forward, definitely about to break to one side or the other.

"Gotta thank ya though, the stands wouldn't have half as many scouts watching me if it wasn't for you."

And then, WHAM. Just as the word "prom" came out of Rob's mouth, he'd stormed the inside. Imraan moved to box him out, but he'd managed to slip just to the side of the rim, and the layup went in the basket just after Imraan jumped. Well, that's why he was going to the big leagues. Imraan had known it for a while, everyone had. Rob had that explosiveness, that natural instinct for the basket that made him so good.

He picked the ball up as it hit the floor and turned to Rob. "Prom? Heh, man, don't EVEN talk to me about prom. "

As he spoke, he started moving forward, then turned back once he'd moved closer, using his long arms to hopefully keep Rob from reaching around and knocking the ball away. Three seconds to get a shot off

"Things don't really work out the way you want them to. You wait to ask a girl, and just like THAT..."

As he finished, Imraan grabbed the ball and turned back to the basket, jumping up wand backwards with a short fadeaway shot. It was the kind his height was accustomed for, so he usually got it off, even if his accuracy left a bit to be desired.

"she gets picked up by someone else."

[Yossarian†]

Score. Mission accomplished, 1:0. It could have been expected though. Imraan was a really good in defense, but he was a center. Center is good in blocking another center, rebounding the missed shot, and occasional blocks if they are feeling lucky, but not in stopping the forward. Unless your name is Tim Duncan, that is...

But that didn't matter now. Imraan had the ball, and the only thing that mattered was a defense. Or rather, it should be the only thing that matter. Usually, when Rob was on the court, the basketball was the one and only important thing to him. Well not this time. Who would have thought, that Robert Jenkins would be sidetracked by something, he never really cared about for loooooong time - girls.

Obviously, when Imraan mentioned asking out a girl, he knew he meant Jessie Anderson. After sharing the changing room with the entire team for 3 years, there's just no way, you won't know who has a crush on who. Well maybe except from J.J. Sturn, in his jerky years.

And then, Imraan decided to sport the same tactic as Rob. Before he finished the sentence, the ball was already flying toward the basket. Rob jumped... And cursed himself once again, for being so damn short. 6'4" was good for a Small Forward, but Rob always played, and wanted to be the Power Forward. And everything would be fine, if he could be just those 2-3 inches taller. He really hoped, his growth hadn't stop yet.

Excusing himself with his height or not, the fact was a fact: ball went pass Rob, and found it's way to the basket. The Irishman was getting angry for a moment, but just a moment later he mentally slapped himself for this. He learned by know, that anger leads not to the Dark Side, but to the missed shots. And more anger.

He grabbed the ball, and slowly went toward the free throw line... And he passed it. The same thing with a three point line. While he was somewhere in the middle between the basket and the half line of the court, he turned, and began to talk again. Imraan was still guarding him, but at least he had more place to maneuver.

"Nice one, Imraan. First of all, What college would want a C+ grade student? Secondly, I told you many times, if you want even more scouts on your head, resign from soccer, because it's blocking your potential. And thirdly, don't worry..."

Few steps toward the basket.

"I'll probably end in the same position as you. You know Melissa, right? Pretty much the only reason, I even attend this fucking math class..."

And another.

"But I'm not blind. She's nice to me, but I just know, he won't go with me to a prom. I'm still gonna ask her anyway..."

Time for shot was running low.

"But you know what? I think this whole thing learned us something. And by that. I mean 'don't think about the girls while playing, because it gets you..."

The same trick, one more time? Oh no. While Rob made a quick step to the right, he was fairly sure, this time Imraan was expecting another attack and prepared a wall. So instead of following with another step, he waited for Imraan's own move to the right to finish his speech.

"... Distracted from the game' "

And then he tried to take the left flank, out-speed the center, and finish the action with a dunk.

[D/N]

(dear lord this is terrible, sorry Yoss it's just to get something up)

Imraan tried to anticipate Rob's move, but this time the power forward had been able to bust through his left flank and charge to the basket a step in front of him. Imraan saw him go for the dunk, and gave a half-smile as he let Rob have it. Only way he was going to stop him on that play would have been to foul, and that's not something you do during a friendly practice. Well, MOST friendly practices, at least.

He had to admit, the guy got more height on his jumps than you'd expect. Did it frustrate a guy like Imraan that Rob was just so good? Yeah, sometimes. But you had to take the good that came out of it. Playing against Rob usually did end up in anyone's favor, but at the same time, it was the practice they needed for when they played other teams. Once you'd faced one of the best, playing the rest got that much easier.

Imraan grabbed the ball and shook his head at Rob. "Gotta admit, good advice." Distractions. Yeah, he knew about them.

Any case, it was time to keep the game going. They'd get some more shots in on each other, shoot the bull a bit, and that'd be that.

"Alright. Let's finish this."

[Yossarian†]

Rob finally felt, he was on a full strength. After somewhat sloppy beginning, when he couldn't hit the basket AT ALL, those few shots and dunk on Imraan finally let Rob catch his rhythm. And after each action he was getting pumped up more on more. At this point he could really compete with other NBA rookies. Hell, give him a couple more minutes, and he can take LeBron James... Not, but at least he wouldn't look as bad as normally in encounter with a real pro.

In very joyful mood, he grabbed the ball he packed into basket several seconds ago and quickly passed it to Imraan. He let the first shot enter the basket, but there was absolutely no way, he was going to let him do it again.

Palestinian decided it was time to finish the show. Rob couldn't disagree more.

"Finish? I'm just getting started..." Rob smiled at his opponent.

[D/N]

Imraan grabbed the ball from Rob, considering his options. Trying to get in close enough to shoot over Rob again probably wouldn't work, this time Rob would be on his guard and just crowd the heck out of him. But then again, one-on-ones on offense were never the best part of a center's game. He was built to guard the basket, rebound, and knock in shots from underneath, not to speed in from outside the paint or dribble through people's legs.

Bouncing the ball in his left hand (Imraan's hands were big enough to palm the basketball pretty easily, a trick that yeah, he had to admit he had fun showing it off occasionally), he started in from the top of the paint, moving slowly to try and dupe Rob into thinking he was just going to try his last shot again.

Oh yeah, I'm just SURE he'll fall for that one.

"Just getting started. Heh, don't I know it, man. And hey, I gotta admit that if I were in your place, I'd be heading straight to the NBA too. You gotta strike while the iron's hot, y'know?"

Stopping a couple feet away from Rob, Imraan kept his eyes focused on the Irishman as he dribbled from one hand to the other. If Rob came in to make a move now, he was far enough back to get around him and have an easy layup. Which, almost certainly, was exactly why Rob WOULDN'T come in to make a move, waiting instead for Imraan to commit himself.

"Besides, it'll be a lot of fun in college to watch you on TV. I'll make sure to look you up when you're in town."

He waited just one second more, then made his move.

Moving as quickly as he could given his size, Imraan faked like he was going left, then moved right, trying to bounce the ball from his left hand to his right just in front of Rob as he was moving. It was probably a bad move given the simple fact that he wasn't the best dribbler, and Rob had a good chance of reacting in time, but hey, he'd take it.

[Yossarian†]

((action approved my D/N))

Full on adrenaline, Rob's mind ignored everything but Imraan and the ball he was bouncing. He heard perfectly every word from Palestinians lips, but his mind refused to be bothered by any at the moment.

And then it all happened in a split second. Palestinian faked the turn, and instead tried to change the hand, and dribble him from the left. Nice move...

But not on Rob's watch. Well, not today at least.

First of all, Imraan was a center so dribbling wasn't really his specialty. Second, after all the tricks they were doing today, Irishman was more than prepared for a shenanigans like that. Imraan was also even taller than Rob, so the ball spent somewhere around 1/3 second more time in the air, between hitting the ground and going back to Palestinians hand, in comparison to other forwards Rob faced in the past. And that was enough. One quick move with Rob's right hand, and he managed to change the balls direction, between Imraan's leg. He quickly passed his opponent and managed to grab the ball.

Still on the gas, and now with a steal, Rob ran quickly outside the paint, turned over, jumped and threw the ball for a final three pointer. At this point he wasn't really sure, if it'll hit, but he was really in a great form today, so if he could actually do that should at some point, that would be today.

[D/N]

(I can't possibly apologize enough for taking this long and making this post so shitty Yoss, but Imraan's become a problem for me game-wise and I've gotta get him out and decide what to do with him. Again, so damn sorry.)

Rob's ball looked like it was about to miss, but it seemed that luck was on the star's side today, as it hit the rim at a weird angle, rolled around the edge, and finally dropped through the net. Well, that was game.

"Looks like you got this one, Rob, nice work." OK, that was sugarcoating it a bit. Not that he was expecting to beat Rob one-on-one or anything, but Imraan couldn't help but feel frustrated. He wasn't playing his best, and with the end of the season coming up, he really NEEDED to be at his best here. Prom and this whole thing with Jessie was being a distraction for him, he was working too many hours... something needed to give here.

Imraan sighed a bit. "Look man, being honest with you, I'm kinda bushed here. You want to just take off and grab something to eat? We'll get the whole team together, get a real practice in on Thursday."

Thursday. Thing was, Thursday was the GODSpeed meeting. Well, he could afford to miss one once in a while. It wasn't like he was turning his back on them or anything, it was just.... priorities. And right now, he needed basketball, and he needed to work, and he needed to keep up with school, so what else can go? He wasn't going to get anywhere just sitting and praying.

(Imraan Al-Hariq continued in They Got Game)
- just assume that after your next post they both leave, Yoss.

[Yossarian†]

((Sure thing D/N))

Wow, this one actually hit...

While this was an amazing shot, Rob was more angry at himself rather than happy. That was a pretty silly shot to be honest. He got really lucky this time, but what if he would do the same kind of stupid shot in a regular game, and miss, causing his team to lose? No, he had to train his mind to look for better opportunities whenever it's possible.

But hey, he made it anyway. No one should criticize the winner, so let's cheer up and move on.

It looked like Imraan was a bit angry at himself as well, but probably for exact opposite reason. And probably because of Jessie.

"Hey, don't worry man. You need to get in proper rhythm, and you'll do just fine. We'll kick J.J. Sturm in the ass, so he'll finally come up for the training on Thursday, and we'll practice, and then kick some asses in the next match. We are one the best teams in state for a reason, aye?"

Irishman pat his hand on Imraan's shoulder.

"Let's grab some food, and stop worry about this one. And by this one, I mean Jessie... You need to stop thinking about several things at once, man. It won't bring anything good to anything you want want to do..."

And while still chatting, both players left the court.

((Rob Jenkins continued in Decisions, Decisions))